Good luck finding one! There's less than a 0.1% chance of a calico cat being born male. Approximately one in 3,000 calicos are male.įor a male cat to have calico colors, it must have an extra X chromosome, making it XXY. One of the more famous calico ladies is Honorable Eternal Stationmaster Tama who saved the Kishi Station in Wakayama, Japan, from closing.Īnother cute calico lady is Pudge, whose 'mustache is cooler than yours.' Here's Pudge lounging around in all her feminine feline glory. Male cats have an XY chromosome pair, so they can rarely be Calicos.If a cat has an XX pair of chromosomes, it will be female.A cat needs two X chromosomes to present with the tri-color calico pattern.(Boy, do I feel old.) Here are the basics: No worries, I won’t be dragging out the Punnett squares and overhead projector. Almost all calico cats are female.Ĭalicos are a weird wonder of nature, genetically speaking. It’s most commonly a tri-color mix of orange, black and white, but variations of these basic colors can also present, such as cream, reddish brown, blue-black or even gray.Ĭalico colors can present in any breed of domestic cat, long hair or short: Japanese Bobtail, Manx, Persian, Turkish Angora and American Shorthair to name a few.

Calico actually refers to a cat’s coat color and fur pattern. To get down to brass tacks, “calico” is not a breed of cat. (Okay, even I cringed at that pun.) Their “cool cat” stat is backed by some interesting science. It's not just their beautiful, eye-catching colors that make them pretty cali cool. Calico cats are some of the coolest cats there are.

Tortoiseshell long hair calico cat